The Unified Team Rob McPhillips

Bartholomew Sharpe stole something that made him a fortune.
In 1680, he and his men sailed out to central America where they stole a Spanish ship. They discovered an atlas of Spanish sailing charts. They used it to find and raid Spanish ships.

On his return to England he was arrested for piracy and brought before the King.

The Spanish Ambassador insisted he be hung for his crimes. However, Sharpe had something of great value to the King... the atlas. His gift kept him alive and free.

Today's episode of the Unified Team Podcast is about mentoring.

A Mentor is someone who has a map of where you want to go. They can warn you of landmines. And show you where treasure can be found.

I was joined by three people who have deep and rich maps of experience.

Matthew Ward started out on his own in business at 23 and grew a 72 strong chain of multi-national Hair Salons before selling up and retiring.

Waldemar Zimmer went from the shop floor to becoming CEO of a Multinational company by the age of 30.

Akanksha Adivarekar found herself in a new country, unable to practice her profession of Dentistry. She started from the ground up and built a second successful career in the HR field.

What's the most adaptive species on the planet?
Some say rats or cockroaches. Despite being low in the food chain, they adapt to their surroundings. Many stronger and more powerful species have been wiped out long before them.

Some that argue that humans are the most adaptive.

Our intelligence and co-operation has enabled us to live in every climate. We can also change the environment to suit us. The last 300 years have been about manipulating the environment to create the world we know.

It's been an act of monumental intelligence...

...and equally monumental stupidity.

It took massive intelligence and resourcefulness to secure our survival. But the changes created a wealth of new problems and threats we hadn't considered. Global warming is the headline of these.

But there are many more that we are all facing in our workplaces.

Burnout. Disengagement. The great resignation.

These are symptoms of our evolved biology conflicting with an artificial world.

Neil Harrison is co-founder of The Adaptologists.

He was involved in many change projects as a Change Manager. Seeing people break down in tears because he was the first person to listen to them had a profound effect on Neil. He saw a need for change that enabled people, rather than change for a specific outcome.

With his co-founder Amanda Greenwood, they set out to try to help companies adapt to a post-industrial age world.

In today's podcast episode he shared insights and experiences from his journey.

Do you want a first class or economy class life?
When we travel we have a choice. We can be herded like cattle in economy. Or we can pay a lot more to be treated better.
In life we also have the choice.

We can have a vibrant and full experience. Or we can be sluggish and have a dull experience. But this time we pay with our effort and discipline.

The key question is how do you source your energy?

Do you eat junk, sit around a lot and fill your mind with whatever is on your feed? Or do you eat nutritious food, exercise your body and mind?

Priyamvada was travelling through life in economy class.

Until one day she'd had enough and chose to upgrade. Today, she lives a first class life. She runs marathons, eats healthily and is conscious about what she pays attention to.

Now she helps others to upgrade their lives, by making better choices about how they source their energy.

She told me about her journey in today's podcast episode.

How much do you spend on a computer?
You can buy a Chromebook new for £179. But most of us spend a lot more. Why?

Because we've experienced the frustration of rebooting and waiting after crashing.

We pay more for more a better processor and higher RAM. Because it means we can do more. And we have to deal with less frustration.

How about your capacity?

Are you crashing because there isn't enough RAM free? Are you running our of capacity for high level thinking? Is it time for an upgrade?

We can't pull off the cover and slot in more RAM.

But we can clear the clutter and the fog to optimise our brain. We can increase our focus. And so we have more presence and more power in each moment.

This is what today's guest, Neuro Science Coach, Niki Vinogradoff teaches people to do.

He understands the leadership journey having been through it himself. He told me about his path which included living in a meditation centre and training for 15 years. He told me about the challenges people find in beginning meditation.

Which makes more impact... changing technology or people?
Of course the best answer is to make both change in harmony.

When companies make a big change in how they work, there's two key factors:

1. Making the technological/organisational/process change.
2. Getting people to adopt and adapt to the change.

Project Management developed in the first half of the 20th Century.

Often though projects ran into problems because people were ignoring the change. They would continue to do things as they always had.

Change Management developed in the later decades of the 20th Century as a fix.

They work to bring people into harmony with the change.

Daniel Lock is a passionate advocate for advancing the field of change.

Besides leading his own projects Daniel coaches and trains other Change Managers.

Because Change Management is less understood it is often less visible or listened to.

Daniel helps CM's to get the visibility, respect and influence they need to make effective change.

What would you do if you were cut off from the profession you trained for years to do?
In a new continent. In a new culture. Without a network.
With the one thing you've dedicated your life to be good at, cut off from you.
This is Akanksha Adivarekar story. It's a story about the power of positivity and humility. Of making the best of your situation and asking how you can do better.
Akanksha is a Dentist by training.
And despite the desperate need in the UK for Dentist's she was unable to practice in any form here. But Akanksha looked for the positives. She began sharing her feelings and experiences, anonymously at first.
Soon she grew to 9 - 10,000 followers.
She had to begin a new career from scratch and started out as a crew member at McDonalds. She rose to manager and then in the learning and development team. Then she developed a career in HR.
All from finding Mentors who could help and asking for help when she struggled.
In our conversation she shared her passion for helping people through her HR roles.
And also her belief in seeking advice and feedback from others.